Auraria saw a little hint of green April 1, as SAFER stopped by to discuss lessening penalties for marijuana offenses on campuses.

The Denver-based non-profit organization, Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation, led by Executive Director Mason Tvert aims to educate the public about the relative safety of marijuana use. The Emerald Initiative, is SAFERs plan to open up the discussion about marijuana use on college campuses. Tvert acknowledged the date for a nationwide push of the initiative was not an April Fools’ prank, banners reading, “This is not a joke…Let us make the SAFER choice!” were placed in the center of campus.

American college students rallied last week to advocate marijuana as a safer alternative to alcohol on their campuses. In France, a new government report proposes a different solution to the problem of binge drinking among students: campus wine tastings in university canteens.

Allowing students to taste wine in moderate quantities will "show them that it is a pleasure, good for their health and part of their national heritage," Jean-Robert Pitte, a former director of the Sorbonne, tells Decanter magazine in an interview reported on its Web site. 

Alain Rigauld, president of a prominent anti-alcohol group in France, dismisses the report as little more than wine-industry marketing.

Daniel Panzer said he tried everything to fight off his insomnia.

But the sleeping pills prescribed to the first-year chemistry student by his doctor were not working. Only medical marijuana, he said, would relax him and help him sleep.

However, the residence halls have a strict policy against its usage, even though Panzer had the necessary paperwork to prove he needed marijuana. He said he would sometimes have to walk to a friend’s apartment to smoke a joint and then walk back in order to fall asleep.

“I feel like a criminal sometimes for following the law,” Panzer, co-president of UCLA’s Students for Sensible Drug Policy, said. “It’s frustrating because I’m not doing anything wrong.”

A UCF student group pushing for the decriminalization of marijuana laws is celebrating what it calls “a victory for marijuana reform advocates,” according to a press release from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML.

The celebration comes after UCF’s Golden Rule Review Committee voted 5-1 in favor of equalizing punishments students face when violating alcohol or marijuana regulations imposed by the Golden Rule. The proposal will now move to the desk of UCF Vice President Dr. Maribeth Ehasz for approval at the end of the semester.

“We are very glad to see the Golden Rule Review Committee standing up for a sensible and fair policy,” said Tyler Smith, the spokesman for the UCF chapter of NORML. “We look forward to working with the administration in order to ensure students’ voices are heard.”

Last Thursday was the first day of National Alcohol Awareness Month, and to mark the occasion, students on more than 80 college campuses across the country rallied last week to support marijuana as an alternative to alcohol, according to an April 1 article in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation — a national non-profit organization devoted to educating people on the relative safety of marijuana versus alcohol — organized the “Nationwide Day of Action” to promote marijuana as a safer alternative to alcohol.

According to the Chronicle, students who took part in the rallies asked their college presidents to sign the Emerald Initiative — a document promising “informed and dispassionate public debate” on marijuana use.

While 135 college presidents have signed the Amethyst Initiative — which calls for the drinking age to be lowered — none signed the Emerald Initiative when asked last Thursday, the Chronicle reported.